KARNATAKA: PANIC OVER ‘DRUNK’ CHICKEN

There is buzz in Kunigal Taluk that is giving chicken eaters of the town the hiccups. Though there has been no study or no such cases have been brought to the notice of the Animal Husbandry Department, word has got around that the chicken in the poultry farms are fed alchohol to fatten them.

In the wake of the ban on cattle slaughter that the Central Government brought about, chicken prices in many parts of the country had started soaring and it was expected to further up by 25-30 per cent. Probably, cashing in on the soaring prices, a few poultry farms may have experimented with alcohol, expecting the weight of chicken to increase.

According to sources, there are about 50-60 poultry farms in Kunigal and a few of them have started offering low-cost liquor mixed with the regular feed to the chicken. The result is that the alcohol-fed chicken consumes more food and water and hence their weight increases, reaping profits to the owner.

Generally in poultry farms there are layers and broilers. The broilers are bred both commercially and privately. Private farms are mostly undertaken with the owner incurring all the expenses. The commercial farms opt for integration. Generally the big names of the industry function on this model. They will provide the chicks, feed and other requirements, but the owner will have to look after the chicken and invest on water, electricity and buildings. It functions methodically and everything, including the feed provided is documented.

There were no complaints from the integrated commercial farms. “This could be because here the company provides feed and other essentials. We have not received any report on such a practice being followed in a particular farm in the taluk. We are also getting to hear only third- person accounts that such incidents are taking place. People are telling us that low-quality alcoholic drinks are served to the poultry, but there is no specific case. No studies have taken place to prove that feed consumption has increased after alcohol consumption. However, we suspect that alcohol enters the body; dehydration takes place, because of which the hen may drink more water and consume more food. Based on just an assumption, we cannot come to the conclusion that the body weight has increased and still poultry owners are making profits out of it. These are purely unscientific reports.”